Modifying playback of a media asset in response to a verbal command or a detected sound is a technique used to help encourage a recipient of the command to perform an action based on the command. The related art describes various ways of modifying playback based on a verbal command related to playback. For example, the related art describes systems that detect verbal commands related to playback (e.g., the user saying “Alexa, please pause the movie”), and then modifies playback based on the detected command. Typical media applications look for commands that relate to guidance operations, but fail to consider how to operate when non-guidance commands are received. The related art also can pick up ambient sounds and perform a playback operation in response to the detected sound. However, the related art does not describe different modes of operation based on whether the user is or is not authorized to perform an action that meets a goal of the sound.